OOIDA tells Senate committee NAFTA pilot plan unsafe

The Trucker News Services

3/8/2007

WASHINGTON (March 8, 2007) — A small business trucker testifying on behalf of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) told a U.S. Senate committee that small business truckers oppose DOT’s pilot program to qualify 100 Mexican truckers to travel deeper into the U.S.

Charlie Parfrey, who has spent 10 years on the road and 23 years in the trucking industry, named safety and security concerns, including driver verification, drug and alcohol testing, insurance and Hours of Service, among other things.

The testimony was before a U.S. Senate committee that is considering DOT’s year-long pilot program to allow 100 qualifying Mexican trucks beyond the narrow trade routes now in place along the border.

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA, said the pilot plan is ignoring homeland security concerns.

“It is simply abhorrent to think that our government would allow Mexican trucks full access to U.S. highways before all safety, economic and homeland security concerns are completely and appropriately addressed,” Spencer said.

He said DOT is “bending over backwards to accommodate Mexican motor carriers” and “Yet on matters that would significantly help hundreds of thousands of American truckers and advance safety on our nation’s highways, we often hear from DOT officials that the department has limited resources and staff.”

Spencer said the pilot program is “not in the best interest of the American public.”

— The Trucker News Services